Frank Gehrke, left, and Dave Hart of the California Department of Water Resources assess the snow pack Thursday near Phillips, El Dorado County.
Photo by Stephen Payer, Courtesy Department of Water Resources.
Ran on: 02-01-2008
Frank Gehrke (left) and Dave Hart of the state Department of Water Resources measure the snowpack at historic Phillips Station. less

Frank Gehrke, left, and Dave Hart of the California Department of Water Resources assess the snow pack Thursday near Phillips, El Dorado County.
Photo by Stephen Payer, Courtesy Department of Water Resources. ... more

"That's beauticious," declared Gehrke, who trudges every year with his colleague at the state Department of Water Resources into the snowy Sierra backcountry to measure water content and depth.

The measurements Thursday at historic Phillips Station, next to the Sierra-at-Tahoe resort, were too good for real words, especially after last year's meager results prompted fears of drought.

The Sierra Nevada snowpack, which, to hydrologists, is a better holding tank than the biggest man-made reservoir, is 13 percentage points above normal for this time of year. That, to a man who makes a living off a good water supply, can make a cold day in the middle of a quickly intensifying storm feel like a summer jaunt.

"This is practically picnic weather," joked Hart, as he stood there in wool pants and a giant parka, blinking as white flakes speckled his head.

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The snowpack will grow as the storm continues to dump on Northern California this weekend, meteorologists said Thursday. But then they predict an extended stretch of blue skies.

The winter snowpack in the Sierra is not only important to skiers and snowboarders, it is an essential part of the state's water supply. Up to 60 percent of the state's water is contained in the Sierra snowpack, Hart said. When it melts in the spring and summer, the water is used to irrigate 775,000 acres of farmland and quench the thirst of California's 36 million people. About a quarter of the state's power comes from hydroelectric plants that count on heavy mountain runoff.

"Even in an average year it is absolutely critical," Hart said. "This is water on the ground that will melt during the spring. We depend on it."

For 63 years, the water content of the snow - the amount of water that would be on the ground if all the snow melted - has been measured every month between January and May. The measurements, which are taken in the same locations throughout the Sierra every year, are used to determine the water supply for the coming year.

Gehrke and Hart jam a tube-like instrument through the snow, catching what is essentially a core sample. They measure the depth and weigh the whole thing to determine the water content.

The Jan. 31 measurement at the privately owned cabin known as Phillips Station is seen by many as the Groundhog Day of water availability in the state. If the snowpack is good, chances are there won't be a drought.

Seven measurements, each 50 feet apart, were taken in a meadow just off of Highway 50 Thursday next to Phillips Station. The average depth of the snow was 73.1 inches and the water content was 23.6 inches. That's 23 percent above average for the site. Last year at this time, the depth was 23.2 and the water content was 7.3 inches at Phillips, only 38 percent of the average.

"You can certainly be optimistic," Hart said. "If we just have one or two more of these big storms we will hit our average for the year."

It is, however, dangerous to think that average or even slightly above average at this time means the state is sitting pretty, Hart said.

"It used to be good when you had 20 million people, but now we have more than 35 million people in the state," he said. "And in the past we didn't have the demand for environmental uses of water," like fisheries restoration.

"We need to be better than average if we're going to make up for the deficit from last year," he continued. "We've got all these people in Southern California now and they all want lawns. And they don't have rain down there."

The Bay Area is another story. National Weather Service forecasters said the rain will stop Friday but return Saturday night. It should be clear by Sunday evening, said Bob Benjamin, a forecaster for the National Weather Service.

"Monday's good, Tuesday looks fine and then there may be another brief interlude (of rain) on Wednesday," he said. "We might get showers in Sonoma, and maybe as far south as the Golden Gate, but we should be just catching a glancing blow of a system headed across the Pacific Northwest."

Hart said that since 1995 the Sierra have seen more above-average snowfall years than normal. But he and Gehrke aren't about to get too giddy as the rain and snow pummels the state. They both long ago adopted the old water game mantra to guard against optimism.